Lost
by Dreafon
Summary: It's the eve of a new year. The group just graduated and they're celebrating. One thing that is off- Phineas is not exactly himself. How does it affect his friends? Will he ever find his path back or will he stay with his new lifestyle?


Mark: Light Red hair, shaggy; green eyes; 5'8"

Phineas: Red hair, spiky and long; blue eyes 5'9

Ferb: Green hair, scruffy 6'

Isabella: Black hair, in a ponytail 5'5

It was the end of the year. Mark was holding a small party at his apartment to celebrate three things. Everybody was dancing, enjoying the moment. Ginger bumped onto a girl while she was dancing. She turned around to apologize and the other girl turned around. "Oh, hey Isabella! Great party, don't you think so?"

"Oh hey Ginger! It's been a long time. Five years? Anyw…" She spotted Phineas standing outside, leaning on the balcony. "I'll talk to you later Ginger." Isabella told her, while her eyes were focused on Phineas. She walks up to the sliding door, opens it, and walked to Phineas and stood by him. She looked at him and noticed that he was looking down.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" Isabella spoke up, showing a smile on her face.

"I guess." Phineas sighed, as he shrugged his shoulders.

Isabella shifted so she was looking at Phineas. "Here we are… we made it. We overcame the hardships of our life- high school, then college. Now the world is ready for us."

"I'm not sure I would call that a victory though." He replied lifelessly.

Isabella turned around and noticed that everybody inside shifted their dancing style. Then she turned bac at Phineas and tugged on his shoulders. "It looks like it's getting nice inside, would you like to dance?"

Phineas didn't budge from his spot, no matter how Isabella tugged his arm. "Sorry Isabella, but I'm not in the mood."

"You never are!" Isabella snapped. "Something happened to you… changed you… this isn't the Phineas Flynn that I know." She told him, full of concern. She looked at his face to see if he had anything to add. After a while, she groaned and let out a sigh, and walked to the door. She opened it, looked back at Phineas and whispered, "Today's was my last chance" and then she left.

"Last chance?" Phineas put up his head and looked back. "What does that…" He shook his head. "no… forget it."

After awhile, the door behind him slid open and a boy walked up and leaned against the balcony. "Hey bud, you look like you could use some company."

Phineas sighed and let down his head a bit. "I want to be alone right now."

"You want to tell me what's on your mind?"

Phineas turned his head, to get a clear identification of the other person. It was Mark, a boy whom Phineas knew since they were freshmen in college. "You were right."

"Huh… I was right?" Mark replied, taken back. "About what?"

Phineas turned around, walked to a wall, and leaned against it while folding his arms. "Remember when we first met?"

At first, Mark was confused, as that happened years ago, and it is hard to remember a specific moment during a specific time. Mark began thinking hard about what Phineas might have meant. "Ohhh… yeah." He exclaimed, as he recalled the moment. He chuckled and shook his head. "That moment really changed everything."

* * *

 **5 Years Ago**

Phineas was walking down the hall, carrying his bags, while holding a piece of Paper. He goes down the hall, his face turning left and right. "Lets see here… 418… 419… ahh, here's my room. 420." He lets down his bag to open the door, and scans the room. On one side, there is a closet and a bed, and on the other is the same except somebody was already on the bed. 'Huh, I guess I'm staying on this side' Phineas thought out.

The boy groaned, turned over, and then opened his eyes. "Close the door, man. I'm sleeping." Phineas grabs his bags and brings them in the room and then closes the door. "Thanks man." The boy thanks him while rubbing his eyes. When he finished, he opened them and his vision slowly clears. "Anyway… who the hell are you?" He scoffs.

"I'm Phineas. Phineas Flynn- your new roommate. Nice to meet you." Phineas walks up to the empty bed and puts his bags on it.

"Mark Conner." The boy replies, telling Phineas his name. "Let me tell you how things are going to work here. Just stay on your side of the room, and don't bother me and we won't have a problem." He turned over and pulled his sheets over his head.

"Awesome!" Phineas exclaimed enthusiastically. "So I guess this is my side of he room." He finishes sets his bed, then he sits on the edge of his bed. "Hey Mark, what do you want to major in?"

"Uggh… what part of don't bother me don't you understand?" Mark turned over and groaned.

"Sorry…"

Mark sniffed and scratched his head and said in a low voice, "I don't plan to graduate."

"Pardon me for saying this, but if you don't want to graduate, why did you come here?"

Mark snapped his fingers and pointed at Phineas. "Fair question… by the time I finished high school, I had a scholarship ready for me. I didn't want to go to college, but I wasn't ready for the real world. So here I am."

"So, as soon as your period finishes, you're quitting?" Phineas said astonished by what he was hearing.

"Yep."

"All right… but I think you're wasting your time." Phineas shrugged.

"How?" Mark scoffs. "College is another phase of life, just like high school, that we have to overcome that will lead us to a more depressing place."

Phineas narrowed his eyes and pointed at Mark, "Maybe so… but it is also a time where you discover yourself. Where you will create new paths for yourself.

"Whatever man." Mark scoffs and then laid back with his back turned at Phineas. "You can keep deluding yourself, but I will not sway one bit. College is hell- your opinions don't matter. Here, its all party and games on the outside, but on the inside it's everybody for themselves."

Phineas shook his head and chuckled, "Whatever man."

* * *

 **Some Time Later**

The door swings open, and Phineas barges in, throwing his bag on his bed. "I don't understand this." He mutters.

"What happened?" Mark asks him, his face full of concern.

"I flunked my test." Phineas holds his test paper up and taps it. "I'm sure that I got everything right." He mulls over and strokes his chin, "maybe I'm missing something."

"Let me see that." Phineas hands Mark his paper, and Mark takes a look at it. "Yep, I see the problem here. You didn't follow the professor's way."

"What?!" Phineas burst out, and folded his arms. "That's absurd."

"This is how it begins. First, they limit what you have."

"Well… I'm sure if I talk to the professor, I will get a better idea of what to for next time."

"Yeah… you do that." Mark replies as he tosses Phineas paper onto his bed. He notices that Phineas is working on something at his desk. "What are you doing?"

Phineas turned around and looked surprised. "Oh, this? I'm making a controlled system temperature for our room."

"What's that?"

"You know how hot it is in our room during the spring? How freezing it is during the fall and winter? This will fix all that. It will scan the people's ideal weather, and find the common ground. So let's say your preference is hot weather and mine is cold weather, then this will make it cool in our room." Chills ran down his spine and he shudders while maintaining his smile. "Saying it out loud is making me pretty excited."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive… if that wasn't impossible." Mark chuckled. "Also, even if that did work, wouldn't that take an unreasonable amount of power?"

"That's the best part!" Phineas exclaimed. "It's eco friendly. No tremendous amounts of energy required." Phineas pointed at Mark, "Also, Nothing is impossible. You just got to find what interest you… and just go for it."

* * *

"Hey man, I'm back." Mark strolls into the room and puts his bag by his bed. He lies down on his bed in a relaxed position and he turns his head and looks at Phineas. "Wha'cha doing?"

"Hey, that's my line!" A voice cried out, angrily about the use of the catchphrase.

Marked sits up and looks around and tried to identify who it was. "Hey man, did you hear that?"

Phineas nodded and then shrugged, "That was probably my girlfriend."

"Nice. Anyway, what's up?"

"Doing my homework." Phineas replied in a monotonic voice.

"Got any plans after that?"

"Going to bed."

"Got any new invention ideas?" Mark asked him, hoping that Phineas would have something. Somehow, watching Phineas make that weather thing ignited a candle in Mark and he began taking his studies seriously.

"Nope." Phineas replied swiftly. "It's a waste of time." He puts down his pencil, then he turns off the light and he walks to his bed. "Alright, I'm done. I'm going to bed."

* * *

 **Back to the Present**

"Our meeting was the turning point of my life. I got out, made friends, sparked my interest in the science field. From our freshmen's year, my life went uphill and I owe it all to you." Mark told Phineas, tapping his shoulder.

"Glad to hear that." Phineas replied in a sarcastic tone. "It went downhill for me. If life after that is anything like that, then I'm not interested."

Mark chuckled and shook his head. "It's not. You're putting these ridiculous expectations on yourself."

"Oh, so you're saying that people won't limit me?" Phineas scoffs. Mark opens his mouth to speak, but nothing came to mind.

"That's what I thought."

"Phineas…" Mark shook his head. "You got to stop trying to make everybody happy. It's destroying you… mentally."

"Yeah…"

"If other people don't agree with you, then screw them. You don't change your ways completely just to satisfy them. Let your creativity run wild and be yourself." Mark chuckles. That's your best feature.

"Hey guys." A boy with green hair walks up and greets them.

"Hey, you're Ferb." Mark spoke up, surprised. "Phineas told me a lot about you."

"Who are you?" Ferb asked him.

He scratched his head and chuckled. "Ahh, my bad. My name is Mark Conners. Nice to finally meet you.

"Pleasure." Ferb bowed his head and then pointed his thumb up over his shoulder. "It's getting pretty wild inside."

"Oh… is that so?" Mark looked past Ferb, through the glass door. "It looks like it's my cue." He started to walk away, but then he turned to Phineas, "things will get better Phineas, I promise you. Just be yourself and only yourself." He pats Phineas on the chest, and then he took off.

Ferb was looking at Mark, who just left into the crowd, then he looked back at Phineas with a skeptical expression. "May I ask what that was about?" Phineas looked at him and slowly shook his head.

"No… ok." Ferb walked up to Phineas and leaned on the balcony. "I just talked with Isabella. You what to tell me what is going on with you?"

"I… " Phineas starts, but then he shakes his head, "forget it."

Ferb turns to Phineas and puts his arm on his shoulder and turns Phineas, so they were facing each other. "Don't you shut me out, Phineas. Up until now, I have been giving you space and I've heard rumors but I didn't want to believe them. But now that I see with my own eyes, I realize that we need each other more than ever. Tell me what's on your mind."

"It's not fair." Phineas mutters.

"What's not fair?"

"It's not like when we were kids. Phineas explained. "We brought joy to everyone's face. Then as we moved up it got harder and harder."

"That doesn't…"

"But I never ran out of creativity." Phineas chuckled. "I made most of every day." Phineas changed his expressions and frowned. "But then I got into college. During my time in college, I found out that creativity don't make people happy, it's the result. When did it get like that, Ferb?"

Ferb smiled and chuckled. He realized what Phineas was saying. "You remember when we were younger, we made new inventions everyday? What drove you to be like that?" He pointed his finger at Phineas.

"I loved it. I was so full of energy, so free. My creativity never ran out. Every passing day, I went above and beyond."

Ferb smiled and nodded at his response. "And the people you attracted afterwards? Did you do it for them?"

"Well… no."

"Why?"

"It wasn't who I was."

"Phineas, do you see where I'm going with this? Your creativity is who you are. If you let other people take that away, what are you left with? If they don't want you with your creativity, then screw them. It's their problem, not yours. People that like you for who you truly are, are your true friends."

"I…" Phineas starts, but Ferb kept talking.

"Before I came to America, my life was dull. The schools there in Britain were horrible, and there was football everyday. It was like that for several years. I knew I could do more, but the daily life in Britain made it impossible. When I came into the family, I thought 'wow, the same thing again, but Americanized version' but then I was proven wrong. "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today" is the phrase that started it all. From that moment, my life got thousand times better than when I was in Britain. We made most of everyday and we made long lasting friendships. Now, fast forward to high school. I didn't use my voice much because I thought everybody would make fun of me because of my accent. But then you gave me the courage to. Ferb faced Phineas and smiled, "You told me… now what was it…" he started stroking his chin, trying to recall what Phineas told him.

Ferb snaps his fingers and points them at Phineas, "If people don't like who you are, then they're missing out."

"Yeah…" Phineas scratched his head and chuckled. It seems like something he would say, but he didn't remember saying it.

"You affected us all, especially Isabella."

"I… changed Isabella?" Phineas said with a dumbstruck expression.

"Oh man, you don't have any clue." Ferb threw his head back and starts chuckling. "You changed us all- Candace, Isabella, Bajeet, Buford, and me. The most who you changed, was Isabella. Kind of Ironic, isn't it? You think it would be Candace, or me since family connects us, but it's actually Isabella who is affected the most." Ferb walks to the door and slides it open. "It's a shame that she's going not knowing how exactly how you feel about her."

"What do you mean?" Phineas piped up.

"You didn't know? This party is to celebrate both, our graduation and Isabella's departure."

"What?!" Phineas exclaimed.

"She's moving to another country for her job."

"Wow…" Phineas started to think what to do, but nothing came to mind. "umm I got clear my head." He ran past Ferb, into the apartment and left through the front door.

* * *

Phineas ran up to the house Isabella grew up in, across from his childhood home. He knocks on the door, "Isabella? Isabella? Are you in there?"

The porch light turns on and Phineas stops knocking and shapes himself up. The door opens and instead of Isabella, he is greeted by her mother, Vivian Shapiro. "Phineas! How nice to see you." She exclaims. "Look at you, all grown up." She looks at her watch. "It's pretty late, shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Yes, yes I should." He replies. "Where's Isabella? I've got something to tell her. It's urgent."

"I am sorry Phineas. You just missed her. The time it is now, she should be on her flight to France."

"France, huh? Thanks Mrs. Shapiro."

"No problem Phineas. Good night." She waved him off, then she closed the door.

Phineas walked down the steps and sat down. He looked up at the moonlight. 'Man, the moon sure is bright and pretty tonight.' An idea popped into his mind. "Wait…" He got up and started running down the street.

* * *

"Phineas… what am I going to do?" Isabella sniffed. "I wish it was like that time back then."

"Isabella…" Some voice called out to her.

"Huh?" She took a step back, looking left and right. Slowly, Phineas came into clear sight, and he stood in front of her.

Isabella shook her head. She is confused and doesn't know what to think. "Phineas, what are you doing here?"

"Our first date, after college. On this bridge, watching the moonlight, a beautiful sight." He walks up and holds her hands. "I heard you were going overseas. Is that what you really want Isabella?"

"I…"

"Before you say anything, I want to tell you how I feel. Isabella, when you walked into my life, I knew that there was something about you that was special. I know Ferb and I brought made things lively back then, but you made it over the top. Because of that, I developed certain feelings towards you, but I wasn't exactly sure what they meant and how to express them. I was venturing in unmarked territory. Back then, the closest thing that I believed that had me express my feelings to you is when we sang together." Isabella was smiling and was on the verge of crying. After all these years, the only thing she wished for, was coming true.

"Phineas…"

"Then came high school. Time really flew by fast. That's when I knew that I was interested in you and eventually I worked up the courage to ask you out. The problem is that high school had this labeling system, and before I knew it, I was grouped with the nerds and you were grouped with the popular. It got harder for me to ask you out, but still I never gave up. I finally got the courage to ask you out before college, and that was the happiest moment for me. Then came college… I… went through some dark times. I was lost, but my feelings for you never changed. I know over the past few weeks, I didn't really pay attention to you, but today I realized something important. You are my soul mate, you always have been."

Tears were streaming down Isabella cheeks. "Phineas, I…"

"I didn't want you to leave here thinking that I didn't care for you. I do, Isabella. Since day one, we were connected. It's a darn shame that I didn't realize this sooner, and that I didn't have enough courage. Now that you're leaving…" Phineas sighs.

Isabella shakes her head, "Phineas, all I wanted was you. Before I moved to Danville, my life was terrible. I was bullied a lot at my school, and my father was abusive. My father eventually was arrested, but as soon as word got out, kids started getting more violent towards me. By the time my mother heard about it, my trust in people was completely shattered and we moved to Danville. I didn't go out much, but then you moved across the street. I saw sparks from your backyard, and curiosity got the best of me so I peered into your backyard. You look forward to every day, you don't let anything pull you down, you strive for creativity, and you're so full of energy. You treat others just and don't think bad of them." She smiled and held both hands close to her heart. "That's when I knew."

"Is it selfish for me to wish you not moving to France?" He asked Isabella, with his eyes glimmering, telling Isabella not to go.

Isabella wipes her cheek, closes her eyes, and shakes her head. "I wanted to tell you before Phineas, I was offered a choice- to become a teacher here, in Danville, or to move to France and accept a job opening."

"So, what did you decide?"

"Before, France. Now, I'm staying here." She walks into Phineas arms and wraps her arms around him.

"But… I don't want you to feel like you can't go because of me."

"Phineas," Isabella starts to explain, "All I ever wanted was you. That's all that matters."

Phineas smiles and rests his head on top of Isabella's head, as he embraced her.


End file.
